Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $163.30.

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Hess from $173.00 to $167.00 in a report on Friday, September 13th. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on shares of Hess from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Hess from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $166.00 to $172.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Hess from $157.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Hess from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 5th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hess news, CEO John B. Hess sold 90,476 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.47, for a total value of $12,890,115.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 223,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,791,753.09. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, SVP Geurt G. Schoonman sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.91, for a total value of $851,460.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 27,581 shares in the company, valued at $3,914,019.71. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO John B. Hess sold 90,476 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.47, for a total transaction of $12,890,115.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 223,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,791,753.09. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 9.76% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Hess in the second quarter valued at approximately $6,054,000. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its stake in Hess by 59.9% during the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 26,823 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $4,087,000 after purchasing an additional 10,053 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in Hess by 424.8% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 19,466 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,971,000 after purchasing an additional 15,757 shares during the last quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Hess by 2.7% during the second quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC now owns 590,326 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $87,085,000 after purchasing an additional 15,684 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its stake in Hess by 255.1% during the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 6,836 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,008,000 after purchasing an additional 4,911 shares during the last quarter. 88.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Hess Stock Performance

NYSE:HES opened at $142.82 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.71 and a beta of 1.15. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $135.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $143.18. Hess has a twelve month low of $123.79 and a twelve month high of $163.98.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.88 by $0.26. Hess had a net margin of 20.58% and a return on equity of 27.41%. The business had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.96 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.64 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Hess will post 9.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hess Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. This is a boost from Hess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.40%. Hess’s dividend payout ratio is 23.31%.

About Hess

Hess Corporation, an exploration and production company, explores, develops, produces, purchases, transports, and sells crude oil, natural gas liquids (NGLs), and natural gas. The company operates in two segments, Exploration and Production, and Midstream. It conducts production operations primarily in the United States, Guyana, the Malaysia/Thailand Joint Development Area, and Malaysia; and exploration activities principally offshore Guyana, the U.S.